There are 3 major challenges that teachers around the world have had to respond to during the recent COVID-19 pandemic: changing pedagogy, the mission, and dealing with challenges in their own households while trying to teach online.
“Many of our concerns have been about kids, and how we make sure that they're still learning. It's wonderful to hear the discourse turn to thinking about those who are doing the teaching, who are providing that care and that education.” - Gillian Hayes
In this episode of Teachers’ Voices, expert Gillian Hayes, who has researched distance learning challenges, discusses the difficulties teachers have faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. She provides commentary on the lived experiences of teaching and learning throughout this time from three fantastic teachers - Rocio from Buenos Aires Argentina, Diana in the Gaza Strip, and Asma, in Gwalior, North India.
First we hear from Rocio, who teaches physics and chemistry in a secondary school on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Rocio describes an imaginative way she has faced the pedagogical challenge:
“With the help of some of my colleagues from the science department we created a science box. I even took some of those boxes to the students’ houses. The most important thing was that they could touch something, everything is in the cloud these days.” - Rocio
Next we hear how Diana, an English teacher at a United Nations school working with primary school children in the Gaza strip, has had to cope with distance learning despite the frequent power outages and lack of internet connection:
“One of the moms told me that she go to the dentist, because the dentist clinic has an internet connection, just to attend the session with her son... Palestinians, parents and kids, they have determination to learn, regardless of our circumstances and conditions.” - Diana
Finally we meet Asma, a biology teacher in Gwalior, North India, and hear about the challenges she faced to engage students during the pandemic:
“Flipped learning made my classes super interactive. I was [also] introduced to the concept of Pecha Kucha. Pecha Kucha literally means to chat in Japanese. It is like a show and tell concept.” - Asma
On today’s podcast:
- The 3 challenges of distance learning
- Handling changing pedagogy
- Remote teaching without internet
- The global education inequities highlighted by COVID-19
- Engaging students during the pandemic
Links:
To find out more about today’s guests, and for more episodes featuring other teachers and their stories, visit https://bold.expert/podcasts
